The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has released more than ₹24 lakh to farmers, research institutions and State Biodiversity Boards under its Access and Benefit Sharing framework. The money goes to people and organisations that have kept certain biological resources alive and available, resources that companies and researchers then went on to use commercially. The idea is simple: if someone’s work of conservation ends up generating commercial value for others, they should see some of that value come back.
Who got paid, and how much under NBA
A family running a Murrah buffalo farm in Haryana received ₹4.30 lakh. ICAR’s National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources in New Delhi got ₹4.61 lakh. ICRISAT in Hyderabad received the largest share at ₹5.36 lakh, while ICAR’s National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources in Lucknow got a smaller ₹0.14 lakh. Beyond these institutions, State Biodiversity Boards in 11 states, among them Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Odisha and Tamil Nadu, also received payments under the same framework.
What resources were actually involved
The payments trace back to access granted for a range of biological material. Murrah buffalo breeding stock is one. Crop varieties are another big piece, covering rice, mustard, wild mung bean, chilli, tomato, cucumber, carrot and okra. There’s also a sizeable genetic collection at stake here, 627 pearl millet varieties and 55 maize varieties, plus fish cell cultures used in scientific research and cotton genetic resources.
How the money moves
Payments follow the (NBA) National Biodiversity Authority’s own regulations under the ABS framework. When research institutions are the recipients, the funds are meant to go back into conservation work and further research. Money tied to cotton genetic resources gets split among the 11 states where cotton is grown. For individual farmers and breeders, most of the payment passes through the relevant State Biodiversity Board before reaching them directly, rather than coming from the NBA itself.
The bigger total behind this release
This latest round brings the NBA’s total disbursement under the ABS mechanism to roughly ₹153 crore since the mechanism began. That money has gone toward keeping biological collections going, funding taxonomic studies, running biodiversity surveys, and building up capacity for conservation work more broadly. At its core, the mechanism is trying to make sure the communities, farmers and institutions who actually did the work of preserving these resources aren’t left out when someone else profits from using them commercially.
Key Takeaway: What this framework (NBA) is really doing is closing a gap that’s existed for a long time: someone conserves a buffalo breed or a crop variety for years, sometimes generations, and then a company or lab uses that resource to develop something profitable, with none of that value making its way back to the people who kept the resource around in the first place.
The ABS mechanism is an attempt to fix that imbalance directly, tying commercial use back to a payment for whoever did the conserving. With ₹153 crore disbursed so far and this latest ₹24 lakh spread across breeders, institutions and state boards, the framework is functioning less as a one-off gesture and more as an ongoing system meant to keep both conservation and research going hand in hand.
MCQ’s:
1. The Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism under India’s biodiversity framework primarily aims to:
A. Promote commercial exploitation of biological resources
B. Share monetary and non-monetary benefits arising from the use of biological resources with their conservers
C. Regulate wildlife tourism
D. Increase agricultural subsidies
2. Which statutory body is responsible for implementing the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) framework in India?
A. National Green Tribunal (NGT)
B. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
C. National Biodiversity Authority (NBA)
D. Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB)
